Modi to lay Navi Mumbai airport foundation stone today

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will lay the foundation stone of the long overdue airport project at Navi Mumbai on Sunday.

In a tweet, PM Modi said that he will be participating in the groundbreaking ceremony which will be realising decades-old dreams of residents of Navi Mumbai. Navi Mumbai International Airport, being built by the state-run Cidco and the GVK Group, is all set to take off at a humongous cost of over Rs 16,700 crore.

For connectivity with Mumbai, which is not the responsibility of the airport development company or the state administration, contracts have been placed with Larsen & Toubro and Tata Projects for the trans-harbour link, billed as India's largest sea bridge.

The first phase of Navi Mumbai Airport is expected to cost around Rs 6,000 crore. Going by the project cost, this would incur equity requirements to the tune of around Rs 1,200 crore.

Planned in 1997 as a secondary airport to meet the growing needs of Mumbai at an investment of Rs 3,000 crore, the project was inordinately delayed due to a myriad of factors, including political indecision, issues of environmental clearances and the funding.

The City Industrial Development Corporation (Cidco), which is developing the new airport along with GVK Group, expects the first flight to take off in 2019. GVK Group will hold 74 per cent stake in the project, the rest being held by the Cidco and the Airports Authority of India.

The parallel runways will measure 4,000 metres, each with two rapid exit taxiways. The new airport will have two entrances and exits. The southern tip of the runway will be built first as it lies at the base of Ulwe Hills, expected to be cut by December.

OneIndia News (with PTI inputs)